No Suit Filed Against Homeless Camp

November 9, 1993|By CINDY ELMORE Staff Writer

FORT LAUDERDALE — The Downtown Development Authority decided Monday not to ask a judge to stop the city's homeless camp from coming downtown, clearing the way for it to move Thursday to a parking lot across the street from City Hall. Unlike in Holiday Park, where the camp has been since July, the homeless will be clearly visible in the asphalt-paved parking lot at 101 N. Andrews Ave. Although they decided in a 4-2 vote not to sue the city, DDA members are still unhappy about the prospect of having dozens of homeless people living amid shiny new downtown skyscrapers and office workers.

"We're not talking about homeless families. We're talking about a hobo camp in our central business district," DDA member Doug Eagon said.

If the numbers at Holiday Park hold true downtown, about 50 people will live at the camp and 200 will show up every night at the parking lot for meals provided by charities and churches.

Once the camp is moved, groups will no longer be permitted to feed the homeless in city parks and the homeless will not be allowed to sleep in parks when parks are closed.

"Damn near anarchy's going to reign if we let this happen," said DDA board member Charles Palmer, who failed to get enough votes for a lawsuit. Only board member and former Fort Lauderdale Mayor Virginia Young voted to support him.

Although he lost the vote, Palmer warned: "Don't fall in love with that site too much, because you may not be able to put it there. ... I'm not threatening, but you've got some pretty irate property owners."

The DDA is a taxing district created by the Legislature with the goal of encouraging redevelopment of Fort Lauderdale's downtown. The seven members are appointed by the City Commission, which voted to move the camp from Holiday Park to downtown.

"I think we need to resolve this problem by working together with the city," DDA Chairman Jack Loos said.

In the absence of DDA action, downtown property owners are talking about pooling their money and seeking a court injunction to stop the downtown homeless camp, Palmer said.

City Commissioner John Aurelius said it is Broward County that should be sued because the county has taken so long to find a site for a permanent shelter to house the homeless.

Since July, the city has had a "safe zone" for the homeless in a northwest corner of Holiday Park, highlighted by a blue-and-white party tent and myriad pup tents and lean-tos made of plastic and cardboard.

Last week, city officials hoped to move the camp temporarily to a downtown building at 105-107 E. Broward Blvd. But that option fell apart after a groundswell of opposition.

Most DDA members said local governments should not provide any shelter for the homeless, citing problems in Holiday Park with drinking, drugs, violence and petty crime.

Most of the homeless now living in Holiday Park won't go to a shelter because of regulations against drinking and drug use, Loos said.

"These are bums, as a group, and I think we have to recognize that," Loos said.

Still, a shelter "would be vastly superior to having a hobo camp," Eagon said.

County Administrator Jack Osterholt said he hopes to take a plan for a long-term homeless program to the County Commission in December. Until then, the county is not going to rush out to buy or lease a building that may not meet the county's long-term goals, he said.

Mayor Jim Naugle urged the DDA to help the city find a temporary shelter so that it won't have the downtown camp for long.

"If we want to prevent people from living in cardboard shelters on our Riverwalk or our parks, we need a shelter," Naugle said. DDA members suggested Fort Lauderdale Yankee Stadium, 5301 NW 12th Ave., or the National Guard Armory, State Road 84 and Southwest Fourth Avenue.

But Naugle and City Commissioners John Aurelius and Jack Latona said those options won't work, in part, because the armory is too close to Rogers Middle School and the homeless at Holiday Park won't go all the way out to Yankee Stadium.

"I just hope instead of lawsuits, they think about solutions," Naugle said.

Naugle said the homeless have proliferated in Holiday Park because police have been shooing them there from downtown and Riverwalk. So far, the city has spent $107,000 in police overtime at the homeless camp, plus another $4,000 renting the tent.